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How Cloud Medical Image Management Saved Santa

Sit by the fire everyone…it’s time for the annual tale of how Santa sprained his ankle while climbing down the chimney. You’ve never heard this one before? Never? Wow, that’s surprising. In that case, we’d be happy to tell you how although Santa was very injured, he received a little modern day Cloud magic to make sure his doctor back at the North Pole could offer him some advice.

Santa was going about his usual Christmas Eve magic when he stopped at his next destination, a charming white house with a red door marked by a large green wreath. Ah, what a cozy looking home he remarked to his companion for the night, a skilled tech savvy elf named Strudel. In his big red bag, he carried a dinosaur digging bone kit for Jamie, a young paleontology enthusiast who resided inside this welcoming abode. Santa hopped out of his sleigh, gave Rudolph a pat on his big red nose, and proceeded to climb down a particularly treacherous looking chimney. AHHHHHHH!!!! Santa slipped down and hit the ground. He instantly felt a sharp pain in his ankle and knew something didn’t feel quite right.

The reindeer instantly looked alarmed, shaking their antlers in his direction. As Santa limped in pain, the panicked eyes of Strudel and the reindeer suggested only one thing, would Santa be able to make it through the night?

Luckily, little Jamie’s Dad had heard the commotion up on their roof. He ran upstairs only to find a very distressed looking Santa. Santa said, “I twisted my ankle trying to climb down your chimney, I’m not sure if it’s just a sprain or something more serious like a fracture.” Jamie’s Dad knew getting Santa to the hospital for a scan of his injuries would be the first step. The medical team at the local hospital were only too happy to help. However, stubborn old Santa refused to take medical advice regarding his injuries from anyone other than Dr. Evergreen back at the North Pole. He had dealt with Santa’s various orthopedic injuries over the years. But how on earth would these images of Santa’s ankle get all the way to Dr. Evergreen’s home in Candy Cane Village in the North Pole?

Jamie’s Dad said, “I don’t suppose Dr. Evergreen uses the Cloud medical image suite DICOM Grid, does he?” While Santa didn’t know what DICOM Grid was from a hover board, Strudel perked up and said, “Yes, that’s the platform that allows for seamless medical image exchange through the Cloud right? You can view medical images from anywhere in the world at anytime!”

With Strudel’s handy knowledge in mind, the medical team sent Dr. Evergreen an email notification to view Santa’s images in DICOM Grid’s worklist. Strudel shared a little more information with Santa regarding how DICOM Grid works as they patiently waited for word from Dr. Evergreen. “Sharing studies is easy with DICOM Grid; you can share images out to various individuals, groups, or locations simply by sending an email notification with a secure image link. Dr. Evergreen is already quite familiar with this process since several of the hospitals in the North Pole share images using DICOM Grid. We’ve established routing rules and the installed PACS gateways that send images from where, and to whom they are supposed to go to with little to no hands-on management needed by the elves. Regardless of where the study comes from, DICOM Grid can perform both automated and semi-automated processes to match incoming studies to local orders for imaging based on basic patient information.” Santa’s eyes glazed over …… that was a little too much information for him.

Dr. Evergreen received an email notification to view the images on his IcePhone as he was sitting down to dinner with his family. He quickly logged into the system and opened the secure link. Since DICOM Grid is fully accessible from any computer, tablet, or mobile phone, the entire platform was at his fingertips within seconds. Dr. Evergreen launched the images in the HTML 5 viewer to look at Santa’s injury. The viewer includes simple to use tools for annotation and collaboration like hanging protocols, window leveling tools, cine, measurements, and more.

Dr. Evergreen called Santa and told him that he concurred with the local medical team and the injury was not serious, but it would need to be iced and elevated. Although he could fly the sleigh, someone else would have to go down the chimney. Strudel stepped up to the plate and agreed that if Santa could still lead the way, he would take care of the final drops.

Catherine Slotnick is a passionate healthcare marketer with a deep interest in the latest & greatest in the Health IT space. As Ambra Health's senior marketing manager, Catherine primarily focuses on creating and sharing thought leadership content in the radiology and informatics space. Catherine graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in Psychology & Art History. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and petting dogs that aren't hers.